131 Days Later
by radcgg
Summary: Day 1 - she sees him. Day 10 - they drive together. By day 60 things are changing fast.


**Title: 131 Days Later  
Word Count: 2269  
Rating: PG-13 for language  
Spoilers: Up to Sectionals  
Characters: Rachel, Finn, Puck, Quinn, Mrs. Fabray  
Summary: Day 1 – she sees him. Day 10 – They drive together. But by Day 60 things are changing fast.  
Author's Note: All errors are mine. Written with the help of soliloquyrain because she is awesome.  
**

Day 1 – She sees him in the hallways between classes. He smiles, but it never reaches his eyes. She doesn't know what to do to make it better. She can't apologize. She's not sorry. Well, she's upset that he's become despondent but not for telling him the truth that everyone else wouldn't tell him. She believes that's what friends are supposed to do. They're supposed to tell each other the absolute truth, even when that truth hurts.

Day 10 – It's fully winter. Snow is on the ground. Her car is not winterized yet, so she's walking to school in the morning. She sees him drive up beside her today. He pulls over, rolls down the window and yells at her to get in. They drive to school in silence, which would be awkward, but somehow it's not. She still thinks about him all the time, but it's more about how he is than how much she wants to kiss him.

Day 30 – Almost a month after sectionals. A month after he drove (in Mr. Schuester's car) to the arena, with sheet music, swooped in to save the day, like the chivalrous knight she always imagined he would be. Her car is fixed, but Finn is in the habit of picking her up in the morning and she rationalizes it as helping conserve energy and cutting costs by saving gas. They drive to school, listening to the radio now, sometimes he'll sing along with the song that's playing. Sometimes.

Day 35 – Things start to happen quickly.

Day 40 – They're having actual conversations. Conversations that are simple and mostly meaningless, but still conversations.

Day 43 – She asks him about Puck. She can't bring up Quinn or the baby (partly because she's really scared that he's still in love with her even after everything that's happened), so she doesn't. But bringing up Puck is bad enough.

They're driving along to school, most of the snow is slush along the side of the road.  
She doesn't mention that she and Puck have been hanging out after school sometimes because Puck doesn't really have anyone else to talk to. He doesn't have any one else who really wants to listen right now. She knows he can't talk to the football guys, not only because he joined Glee, but also because they think he's the shit for knocking up the head cheerleader and the head of the chastity ball, and he's confessed to her that he feels like dirt over what he did (maybe he didn't use quite those words, but that was his intent).

Finn has the support of Glee, because he was there first, and Puck doesn't even have Quinn (or his baby – or anyone). So yah, the first time she went over to him was because she felt sorry for him. Empathy and sympathy are important emotions for any aspiring actress. He looked lost.

And things had continued on from there.

She wouldn't say that she and Puck are friends. They're not. But they're something.

So she whispers over rock ballad playing on the radio, "Have you talked to Puck at all?"  
He's so quiet. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything, maybe she should have abstained. Oh God, what if this ruins things? What if with one interrogative sentence she's demolished the first friendship (real friendship) she's ever had with anyone?

He parks the car and steps out without waiting for her today. She follows him, the cold rain falling from the sky until she's safely inside the school.

Day 44 – Finn shows up at her door at precisely 8:05 a.m. just as he has every morning for the last four weeks. He greets her with one word. "No."

"No, what?"

"No, I haven't talked to him."

"Oh."

He sings quietly on the drive over.

Day 58 - He walks up to her at her locker, not that it's much of a walk because her locker is four doors down from his, and smiles at her. Really smiles at her.

And all those thoughts she's been keeping at the back of her mind (because he's heartbroken, because he's maybe-possibly-sort-of still in love with Quinn) come rushing out. And she can't stop looking at his lips and thinking that it's been months since she kissed him last and she can still recall with absolute clarity exactly how he tastes.

Day 60 – She's afraid of what she and Puck have become. They've been spending more and more time together, not just talking but sometimes they'll sit and watch movies. Not like musicals or anything – unless it's Rocky Horror which he loves because of all the sex and half-naked women, plus the girl-on-girl innuendoes.

It's Saturday and Puck is sitting beside her on the couch watching "Transformers," which she secretly loves because Shia is a great actor and one day she hopes to work with him. Any boy who can make a movie about shape-shifting robot aliens real has to be talented, and she's very talented so she recognizes it easily.

They talk periodically throughout the movie, they've seen it together before, but they both notice something new every now and again they they just have to share. Bumblebee is just about to save Sam and Mikaela from the evil Decipticons when the door bell rings. She doesn't pause the movie, only walks to the door pulling it open, even as Puck makes a comment about how it looks like the aussie chick changed from a skirt into shorts in that last scene.

Finn stands there. Outside. In the cold. On her doorstep. On a Saturday afternoon. Smiling at her.

"Really Rachel, she just magically changed from a fucking kickass skirt to lame as shorts. I mean, her legs still look amazing, but who does that? Continuity people. The fuck?" Puck is yelling half at her and half at the movie.

Finn's smile falls.

"I'll be right back, okay," she yells into the house as she closes the door behind her. She looks into Finn's eyes, which have become guarded again. She hates that.

They stand there in the cold, her arms immediately showing goosebumps. She watches her breath flow four times in soft white puffs before saying anything. "He didn't have anyone else." He doesn't say anything. She doesn't want to say they're just friends. She doesn't know that they are friends. They never were before. She doesn't know what they are, but she knows that it's only been two months and Finn hasn't made a move because he's not ready and she doesn't want to push him.

"I just listen," she says wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm.

Finn takes off his jacket, placing it on her shoulders carefully, letting his hands linger on her shoulders for just a moment too long.

"Finn, you know what I want, what I've always wanted, but you," she doesn't quite know how to put all this, all these feelings rushing around in her head. "You're not ready, Finn. It's only been two months and I can't stop living my life."

She stares up at him. He's so much taller than she is. So much larger. And she just wants him to hold her or kiss her or do something. Just something different. Break the status quo.

And he does.

He nods.

Then speaks. And five words render her speechless.

"Can I talk to him?" Her head moves in the affirmative after the shock has worn off. She opens the door.

"Puck, there's someone here to see you."

"Tell them to come back later, the Autobots are about to roll out. Who the fuck came up with that anyway? Transformer time is sacred."

She walks in, handing the coat back to Finn before motioning that he should come in. She pauses the movie, "Rach, what the fu-" He stops mid-profanity as his eyes fall on Finn. "Dude. I..." She watches him stand up from the couch and walk over to where Finn is standing by the door.

She doesn't know whether she should leave them to talk things over, or whether she should stay and moderate. She chooses the former. "I'll just be upstairs guys." She smiles at Puck first, mouthing at him not to screw this up, before she turns to give Finn a comforting smile, then she walks up to her room.

Day 62 - Finn walks her to her locker that morning. He talks to her about what his mom made for dinner on Sunday night and how he wants to take a bigger role in the house. He wants to step up and help out, but he doesn't really know how. Rachel gives him tips. "Maybe you could make dinner sometimes or something, or do the grocery shopping, or do your own laundry maybe."

When he sees Puck in the hallway he nods in greeting. It's not much, but it's a start.

Her smile doesn't wane for three days.

Day 71 – Puck kisses her.

She knows that she shouldn't be shocked. They'd been dancing around this for weeks now.

They haven't been touching any more than usual – which is code for not at all – but they're two attractive people who have taken to confiding in each other. Spending a lot of time in each other's company.

When his lips touch hers, it's light. So light it would be easy for her to push him away, to stop. But she doesn't. She can't understand why.

And when his lips warm on hers, moving slightly, she finds that her arms wrap around him.

Day 72 – She kisses Puck.

She knows she shouldn't, but she can't help herself.

They're watching "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer," great T.V. show, not so great movie. It's really campy, and Buffy is sometimes hard to understand with her early 90s teen speak.  
He's watching so intently, a small smile on his face, like he's trying with limited success to stop himself from laughing.

So she leans over and kisses him.

Because she wants to.

Because it's not like before.

Because they don't have secrets now.

Because Quinn's baby is due in a few weeks.

And after the initial shock, he kisses her back.

Day 80 – They've been making out on a regular basis. And she asks him if it's time to come clean. She uses plain language so that he's sure to understand.

Puck agrees. It's time.

Day 81 – When Finn comes to pick her up for school she tells him that they need to talk.

Day 90 – Finn starts talking to her again. At least she's been honest with him. And if she's honest with herself, she's really missed him over the last week.

Day 105 – She and Puck rush to the hospital. They were in the middle of one of their movie afternoons (which they've continued to have with more cuddling and kissing and sometimes fewer articles of clothing – which is something her fathers don't need to know about yet) when he got a call from the hospital saying that Quinn was in labour.

It's important for him to be there, if only to say goodbye to the daughter he'll never really know.

Day 106 – Baby Fabray/Puckerman makes her way into the world with a scream. His daughter has some pipes on her that's for sure.

They don't see her at all, but she's heard throughout the maternity ward.

Quinn asks for Puck to be with her to say goodbye, Rachel stays with Mrs. Fabray and Finn (who magically appeared just when he was needed again). She cries into her hands as she sits in the hard plastic waiting chair until she feels a heavy hand on her shoulder.

She looks up at Finn with water-heavy eyes, and he pulls her into a hug.

Day 130 – Finn confronts her.

"Rachel," he starts. God, she loves his voice. "Look, I just... I want you to know..." He looks down, to the side, anywhere that's away from her. "I want to say 'thank you.' You were my friend, you listened, you were there whenever I needed." There's something in his eyes, a sparkle, something magical. "I just want you to know that I'll be there for you..." he pauses dramatically. "I'll be there whenever."

The way he's looking at her is too intense, and nothing, not the feeling of Puck's lips on her, or Puck's hands on her body, is enough to erase that from her mind.

Day 131 –Their timing has always been off, always. She's with Puck now. She's not willing to give that up. Not willing to give him up. But at least she's honest enough to not lie about it.

She tells Finn that day that she loves being his friend. She hopes that through everything they'll be friends, because she's never had a friend like him before (she's never had a friend before him). And she'll be there for him, too, but she's with Puck (who she maybe might love just a little bit) and she doesn't cheat (anymore). She wants to give them a real shot, and he wouldn't be anything but a rebound, or worse, the other man.

He smiles and says he understands. They walk to class together talking like they used to, the heartbreak only slightly hidden in his eyes, but she knows she's made the right choice.

Maybe one day things will be different. Maybe one day she won't have to make the decision, or it won't be agonizing. It will be simple and easy and natural as breathing. Or maybe they were only meant to be friends.

Best friends.

She thinks that maybe her heart can handle that.


End file.
